The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1887-04-01


driver. With look of intense
horror and alarm he exclaimed in n
sepulchral whisper "He poe aui,"
and turning he fled in perfect pa
mic, and it required good deal of
self control on the part of the rest
of us to resist the impulse to follow
his example. Our sensations were
indescribably awful. TO find our
selves rs we had, almost without
notice, in vast and unknown un-
derground labyrinth, surrounded
bp Egyptian darkness, and oppres-
sivc silence, and then to come upon
an undescribed species of animal of
whose origin and powers and attri-
butes we had no conception, alto
gether afforded an experience as
novel as it was facinating.
The individual who had awaked
appeared soon "to smell rat" In
other words he became aware in
some way of our presence, probably
through the sense of smell, for as
we soon discovered, these strange
beings are totally destitute of any
sense or even organs of sight. He
began to jabber in an excited man
ncr like monkey, and soon the
whole crowd had awakened and
were all chattering together, and
presently couple of the larger of
the male members of the community
began to advance towards us as if
to investigate the authors of this in
vasion upon their domain. AS they
approached we took hold of their
outstretched hands, and spoke to
them. At first they appeared to be
excessively terrified and yelled and
struggled, but as they possessed
very little strength we found no
difficulty in holding them. The rest
of the community, however, took
alarm at the yells of our captives
and speedily and noiselessly stole
away into the depths of the gloom
which our candles only dissipated in
our immediate vicinity.
| Our prisoners soon Gained down
and acquired sufficient confidence to
pass their hands over our limbs and
bodies, as if to ascertain what man
ner of creatures we were. Our
efforts to converse with them proved
futile. The gibberish they used
contained few sounds which re-
sembled Hawaiian words, and also
some which appeared to us of Latin
derivation, but although we tried
them with Hawaiian and French and
Spanish, they apparently did not
understand us any better than we
did them. In regard to their physi-
cal appearance, they stand about
five feet high, but do not walk in an
erect attitude, STOPPING forward
habitually whether at rest or in mo-
ton. Their skin is OF dirty whit
ish color resembling putty, and they
wear no clothing whatever. Their
unkempt hair is of 4 faded, but red
dish tingc, and hangs in elfish, mat
ted locks about the face and shoul-
ders. We examined our captives
carefully for eyes but could not
detect by feeling anything like an
eyeball, although probably dissection
would reveal the existence of that
organ in maimentary form. There
was no opening between the eyelids
although the line where the aperture
should have been was marked by
scattered hairs like eyelashes. The
socket in the skull which in the
normal man contains the eye, we
found by external examination to be,
with the exception of small cavity,
occupied with ossilica matter, and
before we left we were enabled TO
verify this by the discovery Of Il
skull which have boxed up and
shall send to the Curator of the
Government museum, where it may
be examined by all interested in this
discovery.
We remained in this abode of
darkness over twcnty-four hours,
during which time none of us closed
our eyes, so intensely interested
were we in learning all we could in
regard to this wonderful race of
troglodytes.
After we released the two men
they glided rapidly away uttering a
plaintive call which resembled the
hoot of an owl. Presently they ap-
; peared again with twenty or thirty
of their companions, men, women
and children, and we then had to
,, undergo an examination by the whole
,, crowd which was anything but
pleasant, as they all emit from their
.. persons a most rank, fishy, offensive,
odor, and many of them, especially
the old women, are most repulsively
ugly. Their teeth are more like
dogs teeth than mems, result pro-
badly of an exclusive subsistence on
a carniverous diet for long genera
tions back, and in many cases,
especially among the older speci.
} mems, the profile and general aspect
of the face is more wolfsh than
human. After their curiosity was
appeased we distributed dozen OF
more candles around at various
,, points so as to throw light if posi-
BILE upon the customs and habits of
this queer people, and sat down to
observe and take mental notes.
: We learned many interesting facts
, | in tho snharn Of fhoir social and